Obviously the show is grade A copaganda. Fincher has always really loved the idea of a bunch of unhinged psychos lurking behind every corner to get you. Really plays into the thesis of Programmed to Kill, which is that the feds/CIA created the idea of the serial killer to cause fear and chaos in the public so that we would welcome the police state we currently live in.
Thats not evidence of acting with others, if this is evidence of anything its that they pinned something on him, theres no evidence that suggest he was working with other people. It doesnt mean he was a patsy either it just means they pulled a Lee Lucas on him and wanted to clear shit they were too lazy to solve.
I would love to find the witness testimony exactly cause I have seen the time span described as anything from 2 minutes exactly before the shooting vs "a few minutes" and shit like that, plus exactly how the witness determined the time span. Unfortunately that seems to be difficult.
Multiple, very different sketches and accounts of shooters. The timing of the eye witness of the last shooting is pretty much pinned down because Berkowitz got a parking ticket which he was taking off his car when the witness saw him. Other witnesses saw a scraggly hippy guy in the park before the shooting who later matched the description of the gunman. A yellow vw was chased from the scene, obviously involved in the shooting. NYPD was looking for a yellow vw, but after Berkowitz (who didn't have a yellow vw) was arrested they just moved on.
Also, two associates of Berkowitz died suspiciously in the months after his arrest. Maury Terry, author of Ultimate Evil, had been trying to track them down. One got suicided, shotgun found on top of his body. The other ran into a median going full speed a few weeks later.
Read the first 100 pages or so of Ultimate Evil (before it goes somewhat off the rails with the occult stuff). Terry makes a very solid case that Berkowitz didn't act alone.
The claim that the "associates"(The Carr brothers, who I dont believe there exists evidence of being more than just aware of Berkowitzs existence) of Berkowitz died suspiciously is not backed up with significant evidence and Berkowitz only named them after they had been dead for some time, essentially slandering men who had no way of defending themselves.
His further claims of accomplices are also a load of shit frankly cause he refuses to properly name anyone cause he claims that his family is under threat, but under such lenient of a threat that he can talk as much as he wants about the cult as long as he doesnt name direct names, talking is talking and the idea that anyone threatening him to shut the fuck up would let him reveal that much is laughable.
Its also not backed up with evidence that the yellow VW was "involved in the shooting", it could very simply have been someone escaping the shooting and who was being pursued for witness statements and leads.
Multiple witnesses say Berkowitz visited John Carr in North Dakota
Alright, but still you cant claim that you can just ignore the occult part when berkowitz only connected the carrs to himself as part of the occult story, and the only reason their deaths are suspicious are through the occult story. If this was a viable theory it would surely also be presented by someone else who isnt just a gullible jackass who took Berkowitz at face value in order to produce a bunch of satanic panic bs.
No, the occult part is real
Its not though, Terry is gullible and so is McGowen cause he took fucking Henry Lee Lucas at face value too and believe the hand of death bullshit, he even refers to Henrys "considerable skills" when the only skill Henry was ever really proven to have was lying and stabbing people like any other person who might try to stab someone, for all of his 3 or so confirmed murders he can only describe the process as something like "punching them with the knife". There is absolutely no evidence or substance to Lee Lucas's stories and he never displayed any of the skills he claimed to have been taught by "The Hand of Death".
He even openly acknowledges that the cops used Lucas as a tool to clear cases yet still pretends that the lack of consistency in method and process is a testament to how well trained and versatile Lucas is rather than the fact that there is only evidence to connect him to a handful of murders, all basically done in the same style of "I had an argument with a person and then I stabbed them suddenly".
He literally quotes Lucas and Ottis Toole doing a fucking improv "yes and" bit but for inventing a serial killer story and acts like its evidence. Like it literally goes "Hey remember when I ate that person, why did I do that Henry, remember when I did that?" and Henry goes "Oh yeah, well it was the devils doing that made you do it", like its that level of stuff.